In growing numbers across the developing world, people living in poverty gather each week to save small amounts of money as members of solidarity groups, slowly building a reserve for the future. Not only do they save together, they learn, pray, and encourage one another as a group. In Perspectives on Poverty, a curriculum examining poverty from a biblical perspective, participants are guided to model their own small group or Sunday school class on these solidarity groups. But there’s a twist—instead of saving money for their own use, they save money to give it away.
Grounded in the Bible and drawing on the experience of development experts, this eight-week study provides a holistic framework in which to study poverty. The lessons challenge and expand the group’s definition of poverty, explore God’s commands concerning the poor, and show the importance of integrating word and deed. Along the way, the curriculum incorporates challenges to apply these principles in concrete ways, culminating in the Never Ending Hope challenge, in which participants implement creative ways to multiply just $10. In doing so, they experience how solidarity groups operate while simultaneously supporting creative entrepreneurs who are working to lift themselves out of poverty around the world.